The present application is based on and claims the benefit of Korean patent application Serial No. 2001-64550, filed Oct. 19, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high efficient valve assembly of a compressor, and more particularly, to a high efficient valve assembly of a compressor capable of reducing a refrigerant discharging load by lessening an operation time of a discharging valve and diminishing the pressure of the entire compressor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a compressor converts a mechanical energy to a compressed energy of a compressed fluid. The compressor draws in a refrigerant from a low-pressure evaporator for compressing the refrigerant in a freezer such as a refrigerator and compresses the refrigerant up to a condensation pressure. The compressor includes a reciprocal compressor, a rotate-type compressor, and a turbo-type compressor.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a conventional reciprocal hermetic compressor among various compressors. The reciprocal hermetic compressor generally comprises: an electric motor 20 including a stator 21 and a rotor 22 in a casing 10; and a compressing unit 30 for drawing in the refrigerant by a rotation of a crank shaft 23 inserted in a center of the rotor 22 and discharging the refrigerant after compressing the refrigerant. The compressing unit 30 comprises: a cylinder 31 for containing the refrigerant; and a piston 32 for compressing the refrigerant by reciprocally moving in the cylinder 31. A cylinder head 33 is disposed at a front side of the cylinder in order to seal the cylinder 31. A valve assembly 40 is disposed between the cylinder head 33 and the cylinder 31 in order to allow the refrigerant to be supplied into the cylinder 31 or to be discharged from the cylinder 31.
As shown in FIG. 2, the valve assembly 40 comprises: a valve plate 42 having a discharging valve 41; a discharging valve 43 disposed between the valve plate 42 for opening and closing the discharging valve 41 and the cylinder head 33, and a center of the discharging valve 43 is bent downwardly; a discharging tension valve 44 disposed above the discharging valve 43, and a center of the discharging tension valve 44 is bent upwardly; a stop valve 45 disposed above the discharging tension valve 44, and the stop valve 45 controls an opening degree of the discharging valve 43 and the discharging tension valve 44; a stopper 46 disposed above the stop valve 45, and the stopper 46 controls the stop valve 45 to be placed on a right position; and a keeper 47 for elastically pressing and supporting the stopper 46.
An operation of the reciprocal hermetic compressor having the above structure is as follows. When the piston 32 retreats, the refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure flows from the evaporator of a freezer such as the refrigerator into a suction valve of the valve assembly 40 through a suction pipe and a suction muffler settled to be sealed at an upper casing or a lower casing. When the piston 32 advances, the refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure (the refrigerant has been compressed by the piston 32 in the cylinder 31) flows from the discharging valve 43 of the valve assembly 40 to the outer evaporator through a discharging pipe connection tube settled to be sealed at a discharging pipe (not shown), the upper casing and the lower casing.
However, the valve assembly 40 of the conventional hermetic compressor having the above structure is bent to form a U-type with the discharging tension valve 44 to allow the discharging valve 43 to open and close the discharging valve 41 so that both ends of the valve assembly 40 can be supported. Moreover, the valve assembly 40 has a structure that the discharging valve 43 disposed at a lower part of the valve assembly 40 closes the discharging valve 41 by an elastic force of the both ends of the valves 43, 44. Therefore, an opening time of the discharging valve 43 at the time that the compressed gas is discharged is slowed down since the elastic force of the both ends of the valve 43, 44 is relatively magnified. Accordingly, the conventional hermetic compressor has a problem of overloaded discharging of the refrigerant. The overloaded discharging of the refrigerant deteriorates the efficiency of the compressor as the refrigerant pressure of the entire compressor is increased.
To solve the above problem, some methods for settling the discharging valve at one end have been recently introduced. Yet, for these methods, the right positioning of the discharging valve is difficult when the valve assembly is assembled since the discharging valve is settled at only one end. In addition, although the discharging valve is accurately assembled, the assembled position is changed afterwards. Therefore, the efficiency of the compressor is deteriorated.
The object of the present invention is to provide a high efficient valve assembly capable of not only minimizing the operation delay of a discharging valve and reducing the consumed power but also settling the discharging valve at a right position and supporting the discharging valve as only one end of the discharging valve is supported.
The above object is accomplished by providing a high efficient valve assembly of a compressor comprising: a valve plate having more than one discharging hole; a discharging valve for opening and closing the discharging hole, one end of the discharging valve is settled at the valve plate between the valve plate and a cylinder head; a stopper for controlling the discharging valve to be placed in position, both ends of the stopper are settled at the valve plate over the discharging valve; a fixing member for settling one end of the discharging valve and both ends of the stopper at the valve plate; and a first settlement unit formed at the discharging valve and the valve plate for positioning the discharging valve at the valve plate in position and supporting the discharging valve. Selectively, the valve assembly further comprises a second settlement unit formed at the discharging valve and the stopper for settling the stopper at the discharging valve in order to support the discharging valve and help the positioning of the stopper.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first settlement unit comprises: a protrusion formed at one end of the discharging valve settled at the valve plate; and a groove formed at a part of the valve plate corresponding to the protrusion in order to embrace the protrusion. In addition, the second settlement unit comprises: a support portion formed at the stopper to be protruded downwardly to a lower part of one end of the discharging valve; and an embracing hole formed at a part of the discharging valve corresponding to the support portion in order to embrace the support portion.